Defense Ministry to set up university initiative

Russia's Defense Ministry is planning to set up “research units” for students to carry out
scientific research for military needs, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told
students and teachers at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University.

Sports companies

Sports companies were liquidated under the previous Minister of Defense, Anatoly Serdyukov. But this is all set to change come April; the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Sports are making a list of 400 athletes who will do their army service while continuing their sports training (such lists will be compiled annually). The best soldiers in the sports units on whom the Sports Ministry pins its biggest hopes will have a chance to be picked for the Russian Olympic squad. President Putin told Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu last December to revive the military sports units that existed in the former Soviet Union.

“We are thinking
of creating units tentatively called ‘research companies,’ along the lines of
the ‘sports companies’ that already exist. These research companies will be
manned by talented individuals who will carry out work for the Ministry of
Defense with their teachers,” said Shoigu at a meeting with students and
teachers at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University.

“We are ready to
fund research and development by such groups, but we expect them to produce
real results and not some airy-fairy ideas. You are first in line,” Shoigu
said, addressing the professors at Bauman University – Russia’s leading
technological education institution.

He stressed that
launching the initiative was a difficult decision for the Ministry of Defense.

“We are coming to you. It would have been easier for us to meet you all with
your brand-new university degrees, cut your hair short and take you to where we
need you. But today we need a different kind of soldier – a well-trained and
highly professional defender of the Fatherland,” the minister said.

Discussions about
new methods of training students in military departments were initiated in
February by the Ministry of Defense, along with university heads and members of
the public. Under the new structure, students would be required to do three
months of military service during vacation time, in order to learn to apply
their knowledge in practice. The military has backed the initiative, but
students are not convinced.